How to Earn Easy Money Online

Merchandising is different from mystery shopping in many ways.  For one, you don't have to keep your identity a secret.  Also, you will never need to purchase anything to get paid.

Basically, merchandising is going to a store and setting up a display for a specific product.  This can take anywhere between 30 minutes to 4 hours.  The pay can be either by the job or hourly depending on the company offering the job.  Merchandising pays very well.

Once you have signed up for a company and seen the available jobs, you choose one that you want to do.  The company will send you any materials you will need for the job.  This is usually a display, products, price tags, a name tag or credentials if needed, and sometimes updated packaging.  The materials you need will be sent through postal mail, UPS, or fedex depending on the company.

Once you receive your materials, you go to the store you will be merchandising and speak with your contact person - usually a manager who will show you where the work will be performed and where you can put any extra products for storage.  Once you have finished the job, you will get your contact to sign off on the form showing that you have finished the job.  Any extra products will be left at the store.  Then you simply submit your forms to the company that provided the job and you will be paid.

Finding merchandising companies on your own can be just as difficult as finding mystery shopping jobs.  I have provided links to merchandising companies on my links page.

Mystery Shopping is another way to earn money working for yourself.  There are many companies that need people to check out their stores and report back on their employees.  We all know that employees act differently if they know the boss is watching.  Mystery shopping allows "the boss" to watch their employees without letting the employees know they are being evaluated.

Some mystery shops will ask you to purchase an item or two from the store.  This is to help keep your identity as a mystery shopper a secret.  You will be reimbursed for any item you purchase - meaning not only are you getting paid,  you're also getting something free.

Here's how it works:

Once you sign up for a company, you will be shown available "shops" in your area.

Choose a shop that you would like to visit and you will be  provided with some paperwork (usually downloaded from the net, so you'll need a printer).  You read through the paperwork which will explain the details of the shop, questions the company wants you to ask, if any, which item they want you to buy, if any which you will be reimbursed for, and will contain the forms the company needs you to fill out for them. The forms will be simple questions such as "Was the interior of the store clean?" and "Did the employee that you spoke with treat you courteously?" etc. The forms are for reference when you enter the information online.

Take the paperwork with you on the mystery shop and read them a second time before you perform the shop so that you don't forget anything. Keep the paperwork out of view of any employees (most people leave paperwork in their car) so that you do not give yourself away as a mystery shopper. Once you have performed the shop, go somewhere nearby but out of sight of the store to fill out the paperwork. This way, you are less likely to forget something since you are filling out the forms as soon as possible.

Your last step is to return to the website where you took the mystery shop and input the information from your forms so that you can get paid. It's very simple work and most shops last no more than about 15 minutes.

Getting into Mystery Shopping can be difficult if you don't have someone to refer you. If you do a web search for Mystery Shopping, you will usually only find companies that want you to pay for a referal. I don't know about you but I don't want to pay money to make money. It took me the better part of six months but I was able to find several mystery shopping companies on my own. You can check my links page for those.

Paid to Click is almost the same as Paid Emails except that you go through the website rather than through your email. Most paid email sites also provide Paid to Click.

Your main page upon signing into a Paid to Click website will show you all of the Paid to Click offers available to you. You simply click the offer and view the website for about 30 seconds. Many times the offer will be an advertisement for something you may want to buy and you can recieve bonus money from your Paid to Click site for using their offer link to purchase or sign up for the offer. Most of these offers are free to sign up for.

Also, Paid to click sites have a lot of other work from home sites that pay them to refer members so you can usually find offers for one of these companies that you may not have heard of before.

Although I have a links page where I have posted my referal links, I want to repost the link to Paid the Fastest here because it is my favorite Paid to Click site. It has a low cash out threshold (only $3) and many offers including mega offers. Their regular offers are usally between 20 cents and a few dollars but the mega offers allow you to earn up to 70% of the profits the company makes from you having viewed the offer (which is quite a bit of money for each offer). In addition, they have an onsite chat that you can use no matter what page of the website you are on. This is great because you can see what other members of the site are earning, chat with other members, and even ask questions and get advice. Click the Banner to go to Paid the Fastest.

Paid emails work much in the same way that paid surveys do with the exception that it takes much less time to complete your tasks. Here's how it works:

Sign up with the company (same as signing up for Paid Surveys). The company will then send emails to your email address. All you have to do is open up the email and click on the link.

Each email may be worth anywhere between a few cents and a few dollars each but this money adds up quickly as you will get several emails per day. Also, most of the Paid Email companies also have Paid surveys and other ways to earn money faster.

My links page has referal links to Paid Email sites. If you have any questions, again feel free to register for my forums.

Though most surveys will last no more than 15 or 20 minutes, doing paid surveys can be slow to earn money as a lot of companies have a cash out threshold. If they mail you a check or prepaid visa card instead of paying through PayPal, they don't want to send a check every time you earn a buck or two. This costs them too much money so instead they may have a rule that they won't send your check until you have earned a certain amount - the cash out threshold.

Also, since survey companies have so many people taking surveys, sometimes it can take several weeks for your cash out request to be processed because they have so many to process all at once. You may not even see any checks for the first month that you start taking surveys. Once you get into the swing of it though, you can have a steady flow of cash coming in. Also, you can sign up for more than one company and if you time your cash outs right, you can have at least one payment each week. I would suggest that at first you sign up for only a few companies at once or you may get overwhelmed.

So, how do you get started taking paid surveys?

The first thing you need to do is create an email account strictly for your surveys. Use your legal name when making this email account and write down any important information so that you don't forget your screen name, password, or security answers. I suggest using Gmail as they have an excellent spam filter and are very user friendly.

Once you have set up your email account, the next thing you will want to do is open a PayPal account if you haven't already got one. PayPal is the most secure way to pay and get paid online. I've used PayPal for years and never had a problem. Make sure that when you create your PayPal account, you use the same email address that you created for your surveys. (Note: If you already have PayPal you can just add your survey email address by going to "My Account", mousing over "Profile", and clicking "Add or Edit Email".) Make sure to link PayPal to your bank account so that you can transfer funds from PayPal into your bank. PayPal Premier account holders can also get a debit card for PayPal so you don't have to wait for the money to transfer to your bank.

Now that you have your survey email and a PayPal account, you need to find some companies to take surveys for. The only way to do this without having someone refer you (check my links page if you want to be referred to the best companies) is to surf the web and try to find companies on your own, or sign up at a site that will give you a list of survey companies. Usually the sites that provide lists of survey companies want you to pay and if they don't they will send a ton of spam to your email. (This is why I suggest you make a separate email just for surveys so you don't accidentally spam up your main email account.)

Searching for companies yourself will take a quite bit of trial and error to get companies that work out for you. What you want are companies that:

1. will definitely pay,

2. won't spam your email, and

3. have a decentnumber of surveys available.

When researching a company, read it's FAQ thoroughly before signing up. Once you are satisfied that the company in question is what you want, sign up and try them out for a while.

Here are some basic rules to guide you:

When signing up with a company, always use your legal name and correct address. If you don't you may have a problem receiving or cashing your checks.

Some survey companies may want information about you (such as your social security number) for tax purposes. If you aren't comfortable with this, don't sign up for the company. There are many othercompanies that don't ask for tax information. (None of the companies on my links page ask for tax information.)

If you request a cash out and don't receive your payment within the specified time frame, be sure to contact the company. Don't just withdraw from the company thinking you've wasted your time and aren't going to get paid. Sometimes they have computer problems that cause cash out processing to be delayed.

Once you have signed up for a few companies, make sure to check your survey email regularly as that is where your survey invitations are going to be sent. Checking on a daily bases is best since your inbox can fill up fairly quickly with survey invitations. Also, surveys usually have an expiration date since the study will close when the survey company gathers all the data and sends it to the company that needs it. (Note: none of your information will be send to the company requesting the survey, all surveys will be anonymous though you may be asked questions such as gender, age, and race for statistical purposes.)

It is also a good idea to make a folder in your web browser's favorites menu with a link to each of the survey companies you have signed up for. Check the sites themselves at least twice a week or so to make sure your account information is still correct and your payment balance is right. Also, most survey sites will have links on your account page to the surveys they have sent you. This way if you missed an email or accidentally deleted it, you can still take the survey and earn the money.

Hopefully, I have covered everything I know about taking surveys. If you have any questions, I have a forum on my website that you can register for (free) and I check it several times a day to answer questions.